Fauna, the BOI, and Favouritism...

Originally Posted by Zoo Supply

The more these posts come up, the more likely it would be if I was the owner to shut it down.
Simple fact is this. Each and every one of us has their own opinion. This "medium" is here for a third party to research dealers for possible future business.

No matter what happens, this SHOULD be based on what facts are presented. This may not be true always.

A dealer could have one screwup on a seemingly perfect record and a consumer decide not to deal with them because of that.
If that is so, then BOI does it's job.

A dealer could be a rotten dealer, but have a few people that have had good deals, and a consumer could decide to try that dealer, and guess what???? Once again, the BOI did it's job.

We can ran't and rave because that is the easy thing to do. I know that I am human and I make mistakes. I also am not one to sit there and send blame onto anyone else. If I Screw up, and offer a refund to try to make it right and rectify the situation, I expect a bit of flack, but not a lynching because someone feels that I am getting preferential treatment just because of who I am.

Ahhh just rambling now.....
TOM

Tom: A terrific post, lots of insight. Thank you....

*pop*

What a soap bubble.

Yep, I agree...all in all, the boi certainly does a wonderful thing in regards to educating the masses about shady traders and good dealers...but, do you not think to look back at your own ranks from time to time and maybe take a distant view?

I don't think I was begging the moon here...just asking for opinions...mine is just as valid as any of yours.

so there.
greg-n-a-nutshell

Originally Posted by cthulhu77

*pop*



Yep, I agree...all in all, the boi certainly does a wonderful thing in regards to educating the masses about shady traders and good dealers...

Agreed.

Goodnight, Greg, all.....see y'all tomorrow....

There are a few bad guys out there that are having a “picnic” with this thread. They love it when we spent hours in this sort of futile exercise of anarchy. That’s their gain. They will fuel division because by doing so they get the attention of their backs. So far they have succeeded in maintaining intact THEIR brotherhood.

Of course your opinion is just as good as everyone elses....if it wasn't this thread wouldn't be here.


As for looking back at my own ranks, I can tell you this.... Getting someone ticked off enough to post on here scares me. Because reptiles are my livelyhood. I have a retail store, I sell online and I wholesale some animals.

I Understand your points very well, my point is simply this: Nothing is perfect. each of us have our flaws as does the BOI.

The hard part is: when should something be said and when should we bite our tongue.
Sure there have been times that I havn't agreed with someone else on here, or even with some of the decisions that are made by rich, however you have to accept the human factor. The internet provides a great deal of anonymity, but it is still run by humans.

I say that my vote and my opinion lean towards Rich doing a hell of a job here, but like you said....thats just my opinion....
TOM

Greg, I just wanted to repeat my post to you from the Tim/Ray BOI thread.

Greg,

As I stated earlier in this thread.... mistakes happen. It is how you as a seller rectifies the mistake that makes you a good guy or not. Nobody is perfect and mistakes will happen. Just making a mistake alone does not make you a bad guy or deserving crucification.

Ray said there was a screw up on his end, refunded the money and showed remorse that things went bad. Honestly, what more was he supposed to do?

You are screaming that others get nailed for less...... how did the others attempt to resolve the situation? Ignore it? Say tough crap, that the sale is final? Refuse to accept any responsibility what so ever? Yep people probably did nail them to the cross then. Not so much for the mistake but how they refused to make it right. And by refusing to make it right people are going to throw their mistakes in their face. Do you not see the difference?

I am not sure, I could be wrong, but I do not recall any bad guy posts that when the seller made things right that they still got crucified. Unless it was one of the scammers who made right on 1 of 100 bad deals. Ray had 1 bad deal out of 100 and made it right. Again, see the difference?

Im feeling that that this site is biased against me too!
if you invite me into the fuana clique and each member sends me a high end reptile i will forgive your discretions


I was no where near that grassy knoll

Now on another note. Are there little clicks here? Sure there are and they are obvious if you have a keen eye. Are they all encompassing of the entire site? No. They are little groups of friends here and there who will blindly defend their friends no matter what. Or blindly attack another group or individual if one of their click decides to attack.

Now me personally, I do not give a damn if my mom, dad, brother, kid, best friends or anyone else that is close to me screws up and does something wrong, I will not back them up. I will be there for support and try to help resolve their problem but in no way will I go along and defend them for their actions. Nor will I help them attack and destroy somone that does not deserve it.

I learned when I was around a month old that everybody is different when I seen that other poor infant sucking a bottle when I had a booby to suck on!!!!

Originally Posted by cthulhu77

Start here...http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=68199

Okay I already read that whole thread. Ray offered a full refund AND accepted the total blame for losy packing and mites. What more can the guy do? Forgive me for being obtuse here but where is the favoritism?

This place has become the BOI of whining and crying.

Originally Posted by Ophis

If, however, there were a poll available to all Fauna participants which asked a question such as " Do B.O.I. participants tend to show unwarranted favoritism towards certain individuals based on their standing in the Fauna community or in the Reptile hobby in general". The results of that poll would be a good scale on which to weigh the detractors claims.

Apples and oranges, I am afraid. I believe the gist of this thread is something about bias on the BOI, possibly based on paid members, but I'm not sure. We still don't have any actual facts or details about what Greg is really talking about to go on.

Are people here giving other members preferential treatment because they are paid members, instead of not? Beats me. How can you tell? I can't speak for what other people may do nor why. Do I give them preferential treatment? Why, yes, I do, to a small extent. I tend to answer their emails sooner, take care of problems for them quicker, and listen more closely to what they say. Why? Because they are helping to pay the bills here and have more of a stake in the direction this site goes and a demonstrated INTEREST in it's survival and future. So why shouldn't I give them that little extra attention? If someone finds fault with that, well I guess you are just going to have to live with that little quirk.

But would that protect them if they stray to the dark side? Why no, not even a little bit. I have given warning points, fined and suspended, and flat out refused to edit or delete threads related to advertisers here. I have had advertisers drop their advertising because of this, who were certainly paying far more money towards the upkeep of this site then any of the members are through their membership subscriptions. So no, you CANNOT BUY a "get out of jail card" here, if that is what is being implied. If a bad guy is a bad guy, being an advertiser or paid member is not going to make a whit of difference to me in how I treat you.

But if this discussion is also encompassing bias in the entire reptile industry, then you are talking about something entirely different, and really outside of the scope of my responsibility. But yes, it does exist, no doubt. But that is just the way PEOPLE are, not just reptile people. If a member sees someone who they are doing $100K worth of business with a year, and that person gets a query here about them, do you think this member is going to try real hard to come up with something negative about this person? Particularly when they know that person will probably be reading it within 24 hours, and who knows how they may take it? Is this member really going to jeopardise their business for something like that?

No, probably not. So yes, people do weigh everything they say based on some amount of self interest. That is just human nature. Not a darn thing you can do about it either. You just have to factor that in with your own decisions when you read threads from and about anyone at all.

So what exactly are we talking about here? Something that I need to be concerned about at all? Because no, I never made any claims that I was going to fix the world. Matter of fact, I don't believe I ever made any claims at all about what the Board of Inquiry WILL do, only what it has the POTENTIAL to do. It has been, is, and always will be exactly what you all make it into. All I try to do is to keep chaos at bay with some rules.